New Dumpling Stand at Joong Boo Market

Posted on July 27th, 2016

Joong Boo Market, a Korean grocer tucked into a corner of Kimball and the Kennedy expressway, is one of the city’s food wonderlands—though it’s one that requires a certain amount of steely-eyed gumption to enjoy, starting with the cramped parking lot, where the normal laws of Chicago parking are suspended for a manic foreign city’s free-for-all. Inside, the lunch counter offers a wide range of interesting Korean items, but with relatively little guidance from the signage; the kindly gal at the cash register and your fellow patrons are more likely to spot you for the confused non-Korean you (probably) are and help you get to tasty things.

It just got a little more accessible, though, with the opening just a few weeks ago of a dumpling (wang mandoo) stand next to the entrance. In the tiny metal and glass booth, a couple of cooks turn out exactly three items, all priced at $2.00 each:Pork Wang Dumpling (Contains Vegetables), Kimchi Spicy Wang Dumpling(Contains Pork), and Black Rice Bun w/Redbean (Contains Milk).